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AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry on Monday said he was opposed to using the state's rainy day fund to help pay for services despite a looming budget shortfall that is estimated at $15 billion to $27 billion during the next two years.

“We will prioritize what's important in this state. We will fund those. And we will craft a budget that meets those revenue projections and not raise taxes nor get into the rainy day fund,” Perry said. “And that's been a consistent message for at least a year and a half.”

He disputed the idea of a shortfall when the next budget has yet to be written, noting that Texas' budget must balance: “We don't have shortfalls in Texas. ... You couldn't spend enough to make some of those groups happy.”

Perry's comments followed Texas Comptroller Susan Combs' presentation of a two-year revenue estimate that will be used to craft a budget for state government.

Rather than offer a shortfall prediction, Combs confined her official estimate to the amount of state general revenue that will be available for the budget. She initially put that estimate at $77.3 billion, but lowered it to $72.2 billion to cover a shortfall in tax collections in the current budget and an $800 million transfer to the rainy day fund.

State general revenue, which is the money over which lawmakers have discretion, is $80.6 billion in the current two-year budget. It rises to $87 billion when federal stimulus funds used to balance the budget two years ago are taken into account.

Most of the general revenue budget is spent on public and higher education and on health and human services.

Combs' estimate would result in a $15 billion budget gap if the Legislature attempts to keep spending at its current budgeted level. State leaders already have directed cuts in the current budget.

The Center for Public Policy Priorities, which focuses on low- and moderate-income Texans, said it will take at least $99 billion in general revenue in the next two years to maintain the current level of services, given the state's growing population and rising costs, including that of health care.

That would leave a shortfall of at least $26.8 billion, according to Combs estimate, said F. Scott McCown, the center's executive director.

“With a revenue shortfall this large, the Legislature cannot write a budget through cuts alone without doing terrible damage to Texans and to the Texas economy,” McCown said.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, said a shortfall figure of at least $27 billion is “in the ballpark” when looking at the amount of money needed to provide the current level of services.

The initial House budget proposal that Pitts introduces will be written within available money, without using the rainy day fund or other additional revenue. Legislators will decide how to proceed from there, he said.

“We cut education. We cut higher ed. We cut public ed. We cut health and human (services)” in the initial proposal, Pitts said. “We're just showing the reality of it. ... There may be a group that thinks this bill is great. I don't know what to expect this next legislative session.”

State GOP leaders have ruled out new taxes, but some legislators have discussed the prospect of using at least part of the rainy day fund. A super-majority vote of legislators is required to spend money from the fund, which is projected to contain $9.4 billion in the next budget period.

Mike Walz, a spokesman for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, said that while the fund will not be used in the first Senate version of the budget, Dewhurst “expects both the Senate and the House to dip into the rainy day fund this session in order to fund our priorities and still save a portion to balance the budget again in 2013.”

He noted that Combs' estimate includes only a part of the budget cuts that state agencies are expected to make in the current budget period, and he said difficult times require spending to be reined in.

“They need to forget about current services. ... The opportunity is to reduce the footprint (of state government), to have a more effective state government that will be easier to fund in years to come,” Heflin said, “and if we don't take the opportunity of that, we'll have trouble years down the road, next time we have a little downturn in the economy.”

Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, said the cost of cuts must be considered.

“What does it cost when we don't repair a highway?” she asked. “When we have cuts to mental health care, what does that cost our criminal justice system?”